The list of top
ten buzzwords is intended to capture the gist of the jargon in the year
gone by and serve as a guide to terms you’re likely to hear in the next twelve
months. Some are meaningful; some are satirical. Some may have lasting
implications and be a catchphrase that summarizes an important idea; others
will pass by as quickly as they came. (Reprinted from Philanthropy and the Social Economy: Blueprint 2014 - available for free download)

1.
Privacy

Privacy gets my
vote for the buzzword of the year – and it’s one with real sticking power. Edward
Snowden put it on the front pages, our pervasive reliance on digital
communications makes us all vulnerable, and the delicate balance between
private and public that defines associational life makes us all stakeholders.

2.
Performance Management

This is the
next generation measurement buzzword. We’re still working on measuring
outcomes, but in the meantime organizations of all sizes and shapes are working
to improve their own operations. Hence, performance management tools and buzz.
Don’t be surprised to find a management consulting firm (or two) with just the
solution you need.

3.
Peer-to-peer services

Peer-to-peer[af1] is another
name for the sharing economy. There is an deepening schism among enterprises
that help people share cars, bikes, and couches. Some of them are still rooted
in a resource-saving, sharing mentality while others, particularly those funded
by venture capital, have taken on the growth expectations and business
practices of big ticket commercial enterprises.

4. Constituent
Feedback

Now that almost everyone on the planet
has a mobile phone, the cost of speaking directly to constituents is within
reach for almost any organization. Getting feedback from beneficiaries has
never been less expensive, though it’s still not simple. Using the information
one gathers is also hard. Expect more and more efforts such as the GlobalGiving Storytelling project, the YouthTruth project started by the Bill &
Melinda[af2] Gates
Foundation, and Keystone’s
Constituency Voice work.

5. Makers

One of the odd outcomes of the digital
age is newfound interest in old-fashioned handmade goods, such as wooden
birdhouses, knit sweaters, and other crafts. Libraries, museums, and
independent workshops provide space and equipment for these Makers. There are
frequent Maker Faires, a magazine, and an
explosion in urban workshops to serve the crafting needs of DIY-ers
(do-it-yourselfers) everywhere. Makers especially like to mix and match the
digital with the analog: think remote control robot inside crocheted baby toy[af3] or hand carved
wooden drones.[i]

6. Bitcoin

Bitcoin is a digital, nation-less currency with
a value that fluctuates at rates previously only seen during tulip-buying
frenzies and dot-com booms. It’s popular with financial speculators and some
nonprofits, including the Internet Archive and Sean’s Outpost, a homeless shelter and food bank in
Florida that uses it to raise donations.[ii]
Because it can be “harvested” by anyone with time on their hands and an Internet
connection it recently drew attention as a new form of panhandling.[iii]

7. Commons

Nothing has put the old-fashioned concept
of resources held “in common” back on the front burner as powerfully as the metaphor
of the Internet coupled with our collective fear of a warming planet.
Thankfully, there’s Nobel-prize
winning research behind these ideas and some efforts, such as a new approach
to development being pioneered in
Ecuador
that could put some meat on the rhetorical bones.[iv]

8. Metadata

This is the
data about data. Once the purview of coders and librarians, metadata came to
public attention when the American National Security Agency claimed it wasn’t
storing all of the content of our emails and phone calls, just the metadata
about them (in other words, who we emailed or called, when, and where they
were). Metadata has also brought down many a philandering politician,
scam-conducting executive, and lying schoolboy. Human rights activists are
particularly careful about the metadata tracks they leave behind.

9.
Randomista

The
tongue-in-cheek derogatory term for an evaluator or social scientist who
believes that the only meaningful evidence is that which comes from random
control trials.

10. Solutionism

Evgeny
Morozov coined this term to describe the digital innovators who think they can
solve every community problem with an app. Solutions, as compared to progress
or adaptation, run counter to the lessons from one of our 2013 buzzwords –
resilience. PBS even ran a program on this - mixing sharing economy with solutionism

Bonus
Buzzword – Hackers

Those
who break into, remix, repurpose, and create software code. Some do it for good
– think of all the hackathons, codejams, and data–mining events where software
coders and social activists create new digital tools for organizing. The term,
however, still retains it allure of the outlaw, malicious “black hat” even as
the mindset and skills of hacking are recognized for the potential positive outcomes.

[iv] Elinor Ostrom won the
2009 Nobel Prize in Economics for her research on the commons. In 2013 Ecuador
announced a new development planning process to be led by Michael Baumens,
founder of the P2P Foundation and a global proponent of commons-based
governance.

Why is this blog called Philanthropy 2173?

This is a blog about the future. The year 2173 seems sufficiently far enough in the future to give us some perspective. As sure as we are of ourselves now, talking about the future - and making philanthropic investments - requires that we keep a sense of modesty and humor about what we are doing. Philanthropy is for the long-term - for the year 2173.